"I will lift up my eyes to the hills (mountains) --
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from Yahweh,
Who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Yahweh is your keeper;
Yahweh is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

Yahweh shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
Yahweh shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore"

(Ps 121, NKJV).

As the firstNew Moon of the Year, Aviv, announces the commencement of the spring festivals and the annual cycles of moedim or appointments we are supposed to have with Yahweh, so the second calls for the overcomers to tear down the enemy's strongholds and to take back for Yahweh what is already set-apart or holy to Him. Purposefully, the Creator chose the Battle of Jericho to illustrate for all generations the kind of people He wants.

In our scripture passage today we are looking at Psalm 121. Yahweh established the capital city of the set-apart or holy nation of Israel on the highest point in the land, Mount Moriah, site of the former city of Jebus, to symbolise His glory, power and majesty which are infinitely higher than all the realms or kingdoms of men. This symbolism has often led men to climb to high places in order to be 'closer' to Elohim (God) and indeed, as Scripture attests, pagans put their idols on elevated pieces of terrain for the same reasons (Lev.23:30) which Yahweh demands be destroyed because of the implied claim that they are the Highest when they are simply fallen angels in rebellion. This is also why the Tower of Babel had to be destroyed.

Three days ago we were looking at the importance of feet and how they should be protected with armour. In our passage today Yahweh promises that those who are properly surrendered and obedient to Him, viewing Him rightly as the Highest or Most High in their lives, will have their feet established: "He will not allow your foot to be moved". The Hebrew word which we translate as "move" (MOWT), and its Aramaic equivalent, zaweta, literally means 'tremble'. Thus this passage could also be rendered, "He will not allow your foot to tremble". This is an Eastern idiom meaning, "He will make sure you are firm", that is, there will be no fear or uncertainty in you. Those who are properly established in Yahweh are without fear and without uncertainty.

As you read the story of the Israelite army marching around Jericho under Joshua (Yehoshua), do you get the impression that its soldiers were filled with fear and uncertainty? I think not. This second generation of Israelites was a generation so deeply rooted in Torah (the Law), in emet (truth), in emunah (faith, trusting), in tavnith (pattern) and in ahavah (love) for the Highest One, that there was nothing of these weaknesses in them. And though they had not themselves witnessed the amazing miracles wrought in Egypt and Sinai for their parents (because they were born in the desert), they had witnessed the parting of the River Jordan when the Levites crossed with the Ark of the Covenant which was still fresh in their minds and they had heard what Yahweh did for them in the Ten Plagues of Egypt, how the Sea of Reeds (Red Sea/Yam Suf) had parted and Israel had crossed over and how Pharaoh's army had been swallowed up in the waters, and they had heard of the various miracles in the desert, including the swallowing up of Korah and his rebels in sink holes.

We too have the privilege of reading about these things, and of much more than they did, and we have the choice to believe of not believe. We have the choice to dismiss the stories of the Bible as mere fairy tales, we have the choice to accept them as real events but compromise in ascribing purely naturalistic phenomena to them which were just 'interrpeted' as coming from a 'Higher Being' (or some other liberal explanation), or we have the choice to accept these miracles at face value and as the direct interventionary work of Yahweh-Elohim. One thing I absolutely guarantee though is that we will never be overcomers and never have the faith of Joshua and his Israelites if we accept any position but the latter one. For when trials and tribulations come - as they must and do - all but those who accept the Word as presented will fall! We are entering such a time now as I speak.

The Manifestation

Yesterday evening, around midnight, I was woken up by a powerful presence. I knew it was Yah'shua (Jesus) and I could feel the power and the heat of that presence. Mostly I rejoiced in it but there were some parts of me that were uncomfortable, but I did not want to retreat. I remained there, in His esh (fire) until I went to sleep again, desirous never to flee but to get fully right with Him.

This morning I was given two visions that I want to share with you for this third day of the Jericho March which corresponds to Yom haBikkurim in that cycle as well as in the monthly cycle but which corresponds to Chag haMatzah in the current weekly cycle, this being the second day of the week. As yesterday, we are therefore looking at two syncapated cycles, as it were.

The Two Visions

At around 7 a.m. this morning I saw a vision of a silver trumpet poking out of the sky. I could not see its beginning, only the shaft and the bell. Contrary to the image of a biblical silver trumpet which I had in my head, it was much thicker than I had supposed and the diameter of the bell not nearly as wide. I did not hear anything and I suppose therefore nothing was being sounded. It was like it was being held in readiness for use. The more I think about it, it did not have much lustre either, as though it was somehow under construction but that it's basic form was complete. It just needed 'sanding and polishing', which is why it was maybe so 'thick'.

When this vision closed, a second opened up, and I saw a beautifully shaped colourless glass bowl, about two feet in diameter filled with crystal clear water, ascend into the sky from the earth and remain there hovering motionless, again as though waiting to be used or perhaps to be blessed. I could tell that the glass was thin and fragile and that the bowl was to be handled with great care if it was not to break, were handling it even allowed. It was beautifully rounded at the bottom giving the impression that it was not designed to lay on any surface.

This is a most interesting pair of visions. The silver trumpet, unfinished and therefore not ready to yet deliver its sound by means of having ruach or breath blown through it, is still being 'carved out', as it were. However, the vessel containing the mayim or water is ready and awaits its moment before being broken so that the mayim (waters) can be released. Both visions speak of the same thing but in two different aspects, namely, through hearing and drinking which serve two functions, namely, awakening and satisfying, respectively.

Each 'Battle of Jericho' (whether the original one or the spiritual ones that we still fight today) involves two different instruments. The first, or silver trumpets, announcing the beginning of the second Rosh Chodesh which marked the first day of the march around Jericho, and the seven shofars that were blown on the seventh day which, coupled with the mighty shout of the Army of Yahweh, brought down the walls.

To fight overcoming battles, as we all must, we must begin with the silver trumpet, which is a declaration of emet (truth) revealed by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). Every month begins this way, and every resetting of the monthly sabbaths. I think believers often fall into the trap that that's all they are supposed to do. They don't realise that a full cycle of seven 'days' must pass from the first one, a cycle of waiting that tries patience and develops character through emunah (faith, trusting). Yahweh did not give the Israelites the city in the first day. They had to begin with silver trumpets at Rosh Chodesh (at their home base) and then go and march round the city. This march was repeated five more times over the next five days. Not until the seventh day were the seven shofars used, with the mighty shout of triumph in emunah (faith) in conjunction with the march, was the operation completed.

We see here the vital importance of divine tavnith (pattern). Yahweh did not just command this action for the spectacle or effect. It wasn't some quaint religious 'ritual' designed to impress the Jerichoites. There was, and is, a deep hidden meaning in it that links to heavenly power that we must grasp if we are to operate in the same spirit in these last days, as we must to have any proper and lasting effect.

Today ministries are boldly announcing that they 'have it' - the message of emet (truth) that will deliver Messianic Israel or ussher in the Millennium. The message I have is that they are not ready and that Yahweh has not announced anything yet. Almost everyone is out of tavnith, the human silver trumpets are not yet ready for the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) to be 'blown' through them, and that those who are anouncing that they are the ones around to whom we are to gather, are being presumptuous. Who is hearing them? How many? Where are there any great Wesleyan-like revivals in the Messianic Movement? Nowhere. It's mostly intellectual titillation. And there won't be any revival yet because the tavnith there is only partial, and there is not enough purity. What about the evangelical Christian movement? There are plenty of 'revivals' there but they are all counterfeit as they are worldly and nearly completely out of tavnith, do not have the kind of love, devotion and surrender that spurred Wesley, the Welsh Revival, Wigglesworth, and many others from bygone years.

The besorah or good news, though, is that we are not far off from that desired state of readiness, at least not those of the firstborn who have been earnestly striving to prepare themselves. I want to especially encourage those who have and to tell them that when the call comes they will know it without a shadow of a doubt. It will come as a loud trumpet blast and things will really begin to move in their lives and ministries. In the meantime we must continue marching around every stronghold that blocks our way to being in the complete presence of our Master, in emunah (faith, trusting), nothing doubting, agreeing to obey the voice of Yahweh even before He tells us what it is He wants us to do. Selah!